Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Small Town Swag


Small Town Swag

I wrote and re-wrote for hours trying to come up with a witty introduction and I got nowhere so I decided rather than beat around the bush I’d try a more direct approach and lay all of my cards on the table. I am a self-proclaimed fashionista, in my own right, from a city that couldn’t be further from stylistic innovation or any innovation for that matter.

In Youngstown, Ohio (or the “YO” as we natives like to call it) one is guaranteed to see a few things, which include the remnants of a fallen steel industry, pot holes in just about every crack or crevice, troublesome youth and many more context clues indicating a poverty-stricken community, but if you tilt your head a little and squint your eyes you may be surprised to see something fascinating emerge. That is, a world of endless creativity.

Sometimes finding fashion pioneers with creative minds in Yongstown is as easy a task as trying to locate Waldo on a page full of chaos. However, creative thinkers, though far and in between, do exist and just like Waldo are usually found in the most unlikely places, and are arguably just as detail-oriented when it comes to clothes, shoes and accessories as the editors of any Vogue magazine.

Take for instance, Willie Gregory, born and bred on the city’s southside, who managed to use geometric shapes, bright colors and his imagination to turn two simple words, slap and life (Spread Love And Peace Life Is Free Education) into a city-wide sensation. While utilizing the help of Twitter and Facebook, Gregory had launched a city-wide fashion trend that not only has gotten the attention of his community, but also provides a sense of pride and fashion redemption.

“I try and make it easy to understand and for everyone. It isn’t just  for hood n****s and back-packers, It’s for everyone, and SLAP LIFE isn’t just about fashion. I , oneday, plan on using the profits from it to use to aide impoverished communities like Youngstown and other places that are in need,” Gregory said.

 Gregory and other lovers of everything fashion, like myself, are not always at the forefront of the conversation when it comes to fashion, but are hoping to become relavant. I’ve heard so many argue that fashionable instincts are as likely to occur on a large scale in this town as fish walking upright in the Sahara desert and honestly I can’t say that their doubts are without merit, but what I can say is the lack of access to chic and sophisticated influence from larger cities is what forced me to fend for myself in a jungle of patterns, prints and colors. I found that the same poor socio-economic conditions  that disqualified me from purchasing merchandise from top designers like Christian Louibitan and Vercase  is what catapulted my inner diva. I learned early that the closest I was ever going to get to a SoHo boutique was a visit to my mother and grandmother’s closets or the local Goodwill and I was OK with that. Instead of feeling unequipped to compete with the likes of New York or Paris

I decided that I’d bring my own sense of eccentricity to the table and ,for me, that’s enough. My definition of fashion and style cannot be found in the latest pages of magazines or a Hollywood red carpet. I find inspiration from the cracked crevaces in the streets of my neighborhood, from the attics of my aunts and uncles and the experiences of my hometown.

No comments:

Post a Comment